Wow, I see from the quotes on the website that you did not miss it. Lucky. I registered for the pre-order as well, but never had a response. Probably just as well as my fun money is about out for the year after purchasing a new furnace for the winter :-)

I hadn't even heard of it until the DCC, but I was thoroughly impressed byt
their goals as presented. The theme of open hardware was pervasive throughout
the conference. I still haven't preordered one, though in a comment on my
blog post about it, they told me to send them an e-mail address and I'd get
added to the lis at pre-order pricing (which was nice). My Capri may need
major engine surgery, however, so that will probably be deferred somewhat.

Their quote is driving a significant portion of my insignificant blog traffic.

I hate that I've spent a ton (for me) of money on all of this sweet radio
gear, and I just have not had time to really get into it. I really should
have worked hard to get a good antenna set up for the house before the weather
turned absolutely evil.

I'm considering trying to implement a wire-dipole-in-the-attic arrangement
like I keep reading about. Even though I have a half acre and live in a redneck
neighborhood where no one cares in the slightest about antenna towers, I'm
fascinated by the "stealth antenna" schemes of apartment dwellers, etc.

I would very strongly recommend an outdoor vertical (trapped) for 80m to 10m (some are even available including the "WARC" bands).

There are some outstanding designs commercially available that do not require the use of groundplanes (radial wires). Very much "counter-intuitive" to us old-school types that were brought up believing that "anything vertical" required burying hundreds of feet of copper wires to act as a counterpoise. Apparently these newer designs do it electronically and it does work. Back in NJ I used a Cushcraft "thing" without radials and it worked well. Surprisingly well. But be prepared to spend between $300 and $600 for the right antenna, and do your homework (which means get out to a club meeting or three, and find out what folks are actually using and get opinions).

The *worst* outdoor antenna will out-perform the *best* indoor antenna on HF just about all the time - not even close.

The range of *any* HF rig is directly (and almost solely) dependent on the
antenna you are using.

With a reasonable outdoor antenna (half-wave dipole at any height over 40
feet) you can expect to communicate easily over the distance appropriate to
the band on which you are operating and the time of day (conditions change
with position of the sun relative to the midpoint of the path over which you
are attempting to communicate).

Depending on propagation conditions and a reasonable antenna you should be
able to communicate on a range from 400 miles to world-wide depending on the
band on which you choose to operate at that time.

You can buy a reasonably "equipped" HF rig
(used) for less than $500.00 that will get you up and running on CW (morse
code) and SSB (single sideband voice). The unit may or may not include a microphone
and if it does, you will most likely want or need a better one. Figure $50
to $100 for that (used).

The dipole antenna? Build it yourself - you will need a 'balun' at the feedpoint
(please see a book!) and four insulators (see a good hardware store), some
rope, the ability to climb trees (see your local high school kid) and, of
course, **trees**.

If you want to use the Morse Code (CW, or Continuous Wave telegraphy), you
will need a telegraph key. There are all sorts of those ranging from simple
to electronic. You really must start on a simple "straight key." You can progress
from that later to such creatures as spring-activated keyers, electronic keyers,
memory keyers, and more. Obviously as you progress things get a bit
more costly. You can pick up a simple straight key for under $50 if you look
around. The electronic stuff runs up in cost depending on the 'bells and whistles'
included.

And the rest of the story depends on experience. And the only way to get
experience is to jump in and DO it.

Actually, the code probably wasn't very good at being an idiot filter. But
what it did was weed out the merely curious. "Back in the day" getting a ham
license required real work regardless of how good you were with "the theory."

I've seen Ph.D. physicists not make it through the "code barrier" that were
published in the field (E&M, Prppagation, etc.).
[of course, I've also known Ph.D. physicists that couldn't dress with colors
coordinated etc etc - yes, Sheldon is an archetype, but they *are* "out there"!!]

Well, I'm glad the idiot filter is gone. Us idiots have been scheming for
decades on how to infiltrate and destroy amateur radio. It took a protracted
effort from our plant Bruce Berens to make it happen, but it was worth it.